Bashed Up
by Panzie
Summary: Amanda tries to prove to her parents that she can take care of herself so she moves to Sri Lanka. She wants to join her cousins gang there but he wont let her saying gangs arn't for girls. On top of this she falls in love with a guy in the gang. review!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I can't sleep. It's dark outside but I can hear the TV on in the other room. Tomorrow is the first day of school and I'm freaking out. I'm in year 12 now. It's the last year of high school. It has to be the best one. I decide to go get a glass of water. I slowly get out of bed. The wooden floor is cold under my feet. My brother is fast asleep in the next room and I can hear his snores. I grab a glass from the cupboard. From the kitchen I can clearly hear my mum and dad talking in the lounge room while the TV is on.

"She thinks that life is easy and she's getting everything she wants. She will never survive on her own" I hear my mum saying.

"She will soon learn. Just give her time." My dad says defending me.

"No she won't. We learnt from when we were little kids. She is 18 now and these schools let them get off easy. We grew up were teachers are tough on us so that we can learn to do things on our own" What were they saying, that I was weak?

"So what do you suggest we do? That we send her to Sri Lanka?" My dad says sarcastically.

"Well, of course not, she will hate it there. But we have to do something" My mum says with a sigh.

That's when I lost it. "I can take it. I will go live in Sri Lanka for a whole semester." I said as calmly as I could.

"Amanda! How long have you been listening?" My mum said panicking a little.

"Long enough. Don't think I can handle life without you guys to help me? Well I'll prove you wrong." I said feeling the adrenaline rush. Mum and dad both looked like they were about to fall of their seats, eyes popping, mouths dropped. A few moments past while they processed what I had just said. I started to imagine myself in Sri Lanka. Driving to School in my M3, all the cool parties that parents usually wouldn't allow, hanging out with the popular group...

"Certainly not! You will not go to another country without an Adult!" My mum said trying – but not succeeding – to shout.

"I am 18 now, not a little kid like you said." You could hear the venom in each word. "I will live with nana and go to school with Jesse" I suggested.

"No way am I letting you..."

"Let her go Michelle" My dad interrupted. My mum looked like she was about to scream.

"Fine. Do want you want" and with that she walked out of the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Hey, Amanda. How are you getting to school today? I thought your car wasn't due till tomorrow." Jesse asked while he packed his bag.

"Well, how are you getting to school?" I asked back.

"I'm taking the bus with a few friends." With no doubt he meant the gang he was in.

"You mind if I come? I'd love to meet your friends." I would also like to get some friends of my own, but I was never quite good at that.

"I don't think that's a good idea. See, the bus is only for the gang and I don't think that you would be allowed to get on." He answered shyly. What did he mean only the gang was allowed on? That's just not fair. It's a school bus and anyone who goes to the school should be able to get on.

"I'm sure I'm allowed to get on." I said as a horn went of in the front yard. "Hurry or were going to miss the bus" I added.

There were a lot of people on the bus. I realized at once that all were boys, around 18 years and all wearing their black baggy jeans and black and white tops. I was wearing a pair of grey tracksuit pants, a basic red strappy singlet and a lowered armhole singlet. They all stared at me as I walked past them, to the back of the bus. They started whispering. I could feel the blood rushing to my face. Jesse sat next to the boys and said something about me that I couldn't hear.

"Hi. I'm Nate and you are...?" A guy with brown hair and blond tips asked me.

"Amanda" I answered simply.

"Um..."He looked uncomfortable. "You shouldn't be on this bus. Jesse told me to hide you from Alpha, so just be quiet and stay behind me." What did he mean as alpha? I didn't need to be hid. I can look after myself.

"I don't need to be hid, so you can stop wasting your time." I answered a bit mad.

"I promised Jesse. So, Jesse said that you came from Australia..." My hands rolled into fists and my blood was rushing to my face.

"Has Jesse told everyone?" I snarled at him.

"Um...no. I think only the gang knows. Are you ok? What's wrong with living in Australia? Don't you like living in a rich country?" Questions were pouring out of his mouth. But before I could answer them he jumped up all of a sudden and stood in front of me like everyone else. "Just stay still and don't make a sound" He whispered. What was going on? I unclenched my fists. I couldn't see anything with all the boys standing in front of me. I could hear my cousin Dylon talking to everyone.

"Sup guys. What's been happening?" He asked everyone.

"Nothing" everyone said at once.

"Then why are you all standing in a group at the back?" he asked curious.

"No reason. No reason at all" Jesse said trying to sound casual but not succeeding.

"What are you hiding?" Dylon asked. That's when I saw it, sitting in my lap, a huge, black tarantula.

"Ahh" I screamed, flicked it and ran to the front of the bus. Everyone started to laugh. I couldn't blame them. I did scream really loud. Nate and Jesse ran with me to the front of the bus. They both grabbed my arms and I tried to shove them off but they held on too tight. I looked up at Dylon. He looked furious. As soon as I caught my breath I broke the silence "Hey Dylon! I haven't seen you in ages." Everyone was staring at me. I could feel Nate and Jesse squeezing my arm more than they should. Nate mostly. What were they so worried about.

"What are you doing here?" Dylon almost screamed at me.

"On this bus, in Sri Lanka or on this planet?" I said sarcastically.

"You know what I mean." He said through his teeth.

"I don't think I do." I said making a face.

"On this bus" He almost growled. Now I was scared. But I was going to be ok... right?

"There was no other way to get to school, so I came with Jesse. My car will arrive tomorrow." I said slowly.

"You now it's against the rules Jesse. It's not safe for her to get on. What if they got on today...?" Jesse cut him of there.

"It's not my fault she's stubborn. I told her it was a bad idea." Jesse let go then, but Nate just loosed his grip.

"Whose they?" everyone went quiet. "Tell me!" I said louder.

"It's not important, Amanda" Nate said slowly.

"It is if I'm going to join your gang." I said thinking about me as a gangster. I'll wear tight jeans and a black and white tight singlet top. I would walk around with a gang of boys and ... Dylon interrupted me mid-thought

"Absolutely not. There are no girls in this gang. It's just too risky. You could get hurt." He looked furious. I could see the school coming up.

"I can take care of myself." I said heading toward the door. Nate followed me. I got of the bus and walked to the office to get my stuff.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

My first class was Music. Lucky me! My favorite class was music. When I got to my room all the seats were taken except one. And it just happened to be next to Dylon.

"Amanda! It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Ms Taylor. Take a seat right here." she said pointing at the seat next to Dylon. "If you need any help don't be afraid to ask. Now everyone, keep working on your projects and I'll come around to check your work." She said to everyone. Ms Taylor was a young teacher. Probably only 25 years, 30 at the most. She had long shiny black hair and emerald green eyes. I could tell that this was going to be a fun class. She went back to her desk and pulled two sheets out of her bag. "Here this project is due in a week, but everyone has already had a week so you have an extension." I looked at the piece of paper. It was a project about your favorite singer. I had already done it. I could just use my old project.

I looked onto the second piece of paper. It was a list of people and who they were doing their project on. T.I. was already taken. I thought about who to do then. NLT was a good band I could do them. My friend Jackie did them for her project. She could email her project to me. I quickly wrote NLT on the piece of paper next to my name.

I just listened to music and looked at pictures the whole lesson. I got bored really quickly.

"You know you really shouldn't take advantage of your extension. You should do your work and get it out of the way." Dylon said without looking at me.

"I've got it handled. The next time you see me - witch is hopefully never - it will be done." I said calmly. I didn't look at him because I knew I would start wanting to shout at him.

"I'm sorry you can't be in my gang. But it's just not safe. You might..." I stopped and looked at him.

"I can look after myself. I don't need you to look after me." I said angrily.

"Your right, you don't need me to look after you, but being in a gang isn't for girls" He said back.

"Maybe not every girl" I said finishing the conversation.

We didn't talk for the rest of the lesson. As soon as the bell went, I left without saying anything. The rest of the day went in a blur. I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't stop thinking about what Dylon said, or didn't say _"But it's just not safe. You might...get hurt, get kidnapped, be raped. What was he going to say?_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After school I started walking home. There was no way I was going to catch the bus with Dylon there. As I was walking out the gates to the school, a guy with a black motorcycle stopped right in front of me.

"Need a lift?" It was Nate.

"Where did you get the motorcycle from?" I asked. It looked brand new.

"Does it matter where I got it from? Come on. Your living at Jesse's Nan's place right?" He said. I wasn't sure what to say. I had never ridden on a motorcycle before. I knew that they went really fast. And what if I got into an accident? We could get badly hurt.

"Do you have a license?" I asked. If I was going to get on a motorcycle, I at least want to be with a person with a license.

"Don't you trust me?" He said pretending to be hurt.

"Seriously" I said laughing.

"I wouldn't be on this if I didn't. Hop on" he said handing me a red helmet.

I hesitantly put it on still thinking of all the things that could happen. I could tell that I looked stupid. I jumped on behind him. I wasn't sure where to put my hands so I just laid them on his back. Nate could tell that I didn't know what to do and said laughing

"You put your hands around my waist like your hugging me." I did what he said. I laid my head on his shoulder so that I could see what was happening. Nate revved up the engine. "Hold on tight" he whispered in my ear. We started to race through the streets. We were going so fast, I was sure we were going to crash. Everything around us was a blur. I held on tighter to Nate. He started to laugh. It was a breath taking experience for sure. All of a sudden we were going slower. I could see the beach on the other side of the street. Nate stopped the motorcycle and asked casually

"So, want something to eat?" I could see McDonalds just around the corner.

"Only if I can pay and we get to eat on the beach?" I said. I always wanted to eat on the beach, under the sun, the sound of crashing waves...

"Of course; how else?" He said with a laugh.

We ordered our food and head to the beach. He ordered a Mc Chicken meal and I ordered a Chocolate Sunday.

"You can have some of my chips if you want?' Nate offered. But I couldn't eat a lot because inside I felt depressed because of Dylon.

"No thanks. I'm um..."

"Anorexic" he finished for me.

"What?' I said looking down at my stomach. Nate cracked up laughing.

"I was joking!" he said between laughs.

"That is so not funny" I said as I play punched him on the arm. We laughed so much.

We walked and talked for about 5 minutes, when he stopped walking.

"Why don't we sit down for a minute?" he asked.

"Sure why not." I said. I walked to where he was standing and sat down. I looked out at the sea. The sea gulls were soaring above, the waves crashing at the shore; couples were walking bare foot on the warm sand. "Isn't it beautiful?" I said turning my attention back to Nate. We were sitting soo close I could feel the warmth of his arm against my arm. His face was inches away from mine.

My eyes locked with his and without looking away he said almost a whisper "You are". He started to move his hand up my arm and I froze. He realized my hesitation and slowly got up. "Time to take you home" he said.

The whole walk back to the motorcycle he looked any were but me. It was an awkward silence. When we finally got there he handed me the helmet – again without looking at me – and hopped on. I got on with him and hugged him. The ride home wasn't as thrilling as the first ride. I hoped that this didn't change our friendship. He was the only friend I've made here. We were at my Nan's really quickly. I got off and handed him the helmet. He was about to leave when I just couldn't take it anymore.

"Nate, wait!" He stopped and looked at me in the eye.

"What?" he said.

"Do you want to come inside for a sec?" I asked not knowing what else to say.

"I've got somewhere to be." He said. I couldn't tell if he was lying or not.

"Well, will I see you tomorrow?" I asked, though I knew I would.

"Yeah, I'll see you at school." He wasn't happy and I could tell. He looked away and just about to leave but something made me want to stay with him.

"Do-you-need-a-lift?" I said quickly before he was gone. He looked back at me

"You don't have a car" he said simply.

"It's coming tonight." I said with a smile. He just looked at the ground and said.

"I'll just take the bus." And with that he left.

I stood in front of my Nan's house alone for a minute or two. Processing what had happened that afternoon. Slowly I walked inside and strait to my bedroom. I lay on the bed, silent, thinking. _He likes me. He like-likes me! I've been here one day and a boy like-likes me. I've lived in Australia my whole life and never had a boyfriend. What if he asks me out? I wouldn't know what to say. I might mess up. And then he will brake-up with me. This could turn out so bad! _After about 30 minutes of freaking out, I decided to ask my friend Jackie in Australia what to do. I logged onto facebook to see if she was on. But no such luck. The car arrived and I locked it up safely in the garage. I went to bed early that night hoping that I would have the guts to tell Nate how I felt about him the next day.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I got up early that morning to go to school. If I wasn't able to be in Dylon's gang then I was just going to have to make other friends. I put on my black jeans, red high heels, red tight top, black leather jacket and leather driving gloves. I thought this outfit would go well with my red M3. It was 28 ْ C outside and I could tell that it was going to be a fairly good day. Other than the fact that I was going to talk to Nate, which might be awkward, I was going to tryout for the gymnastics team. I was excited about going to school. I got into my car and drove to school. It wasn't as thrilling as being on a motorcycle that was for sure. I turned up the music and sang along. I was listening to _New Divide _by _Linkin Park_.

Before I knew it, I was at school. I parked the car in the student's parking lot and looked around. There was only 2 other cars there. At least I wasn't the only one who drove. Both of the cars were black Mercedes, side by side on the other side of the parking lot. I turned off the music and grabbed my hand bag full of books. I stepped out of the car and Walked towards the school. Most of the people that I passed were staring at me. I tried to ignore them but it was hard to and I became self-conscious. I could feel the blood rushing to my face. I stared at the ground and moved quicker. I could see Nate, Dylon, Jesse and Denon.

I was soo grateful that I found them. As soon as they saw me their mouths dropped and their eyes looked like they were going to pop.

"Wow! You look...wow!" said Dylon as soon as I was in earshot of them. Everyone started to laugh except for Nate, who seemed to be looking at the other side of the oval.

"Hey!" said Nicole, Dylon's girlfriend, as she elbowed him in the ribs.

"We will get back to that subject when you can think of some actual adjectives" I said still laughing.

"I love your ride. It's totally sick man!" Denon said enthusiastically.

"Thanks I got it for my birthday" I said a bit embarrassed that the car made me look rich.

"So, what subjects do you have today?" Jesse was trying to change the subject because he could tell that I was uncomfortable.

"English, Drama, Maths and P.E." I answered. "Hay, that means you've got P.E. with Nate, doesn't it?" Jesse asked Nate. Nate finally looked at me.

"Yeah, it does" he said without smiling. Nate locked eyes with me and it was silent for a moment. About a minute later the bell went and I went to my first period.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

In English first period, I had Mr. Dinkin. He was about 50 – 60 years old. He had grey hair and bluey-grey eyes. He kept cracking jokes that were actually funny. First he did the roll and then he had an announcement. "So, this Friday night is the autumn dance. A notice is going around advertising price of tickets and the rules of suitable clothing. The money you pay for tickets will go to the MS society. MS is a ..."

After all of the announcements the rest of the day went as usual. When lunch came around I went strait to the gym to tryout for the gymnastics team. I did gymnastics in Australia and didn't want to fall behind. When I walked into the gym, all of the mats were placed on the floor and the Bars, Vault and Beam were already set out. There were about 20 kids already in the gym they all started whispering to each other when they saw me. It wasn't as annoying anymore because it was the same everywhere I went.

I walked up to the teacher who was in the Sports storeroom. "Excuse me. My name is Amanda. I'm new at the school and I would like to tryout for the gymnastics team." I said trying to hide the shake in my voice. I was so nervous. The gymnastics coach was big and what if she said no. That would be so embarrassing.

"I'm Ms. Tara. Have you ever done gymnastics before?" she asked without looking at me.

"Yes. I did gymnastics for a club in Australia." I said louder. Finally she looked at me.

"Do you have something else to wear? I mean you look great but how can you do your routines in that?" She said indicating my jeans.

"Yeah I brought my leggings. Do you want me to go and change?" I asked loosening up a little.

"Yeah that would be a good idea." She said.

I headed strait to the change rooms with my handbag. Ms Tara was really nice. I was definitely in. I changed into my black long leggings and went back outside.

"What level are you in Amanda?" Ms Tara shouted from the other side of the gym.

"Level 4" I shouted back. I walked to her. She was standing next to the bars. All the other kids were stretching near the bars staring at me. It was very uncomfortable.

"Wow. Level four? Do you need spotting?" Ms Godfrey said amazed.

"No. I'll be ok." I answered.

"Let's see what you got." She said indicating for me to start.

As soon as my hands were on the bar, it was like it was only me in that room. I had done this routine a million time before. _Kip, cast, back hipcircle, tuck on, 2 Swings, pullover and fly away._ When I finished it all came back to me, all the eyes staring at me. I could feel the blood rushing to my face. "That was amazing. How did you learn to do that soo well?" said a guy with Black hair and red tips.

"At my old gym in Australia." I said quietly. I kept looking at the floor and biting my lip.

"That was fantastic Amanda. How about we do this tomorrow because class is about to start." Ms Tara said.

She was right. Kids were already coming in. Amongst them, Nate was looking my way. I smiled and walked to him. "Hey, Nate." I said.

"Hey" He said looking at me. I could see the sadness in his eyes. This was the time I was dreading.

"Nate about yesterday, I'm..." he stopped me.

"I don't want to talk about it" He said looking away from me.

"Ok" I said a bit uncomfortable. "Well..." I wasn't sure what else to talk about.

"Are you going to the dance this Friday?" He asked looking back at me.

"Um...I was actually thinking of skipping it." I said not knowing what else to say. Was he going to ask me to go with him?

"Why?" He asked. He looked really interested in what I was going to say.

"At my old school things like this were pretty boring" I answered. It's true. The last dance we had was so boring; my friends and I went to a night club instead.

"Not our dances. There is dancing and punch and ..." Nate couldn't seem to think of anything else that was fun.

"I like punch" I said laughing. "But I don't have a date and I don't really have a group of friends to tag along with." I said looking at the ground.

"I don't have anyone to go with. Would you go to the dance with me?" He said. His eyes locked with mine and it was like no one else was in the room. It was like he was looking into my soul. I didn't know what to say. My heart was pounding 2000km per minute. My lips had gone dry.

"Yes" was all I was able to say. He laughed and took my hand. His hands were warm around mine.

"Come on, we've got to stretch." said Nate.

We went through that lesson talking about plans for the dance and about passed dances. Five minutes till school ends and I realized that we were going to leave and won't see each other till tomorrow. The same urge from the afternoon before came back and I didn't want to leave him. "So, do you want a lift home?" I asked hopeful that he would say yes.

"How can I say no? Your car is awesome." He said with enthusiasm. I wave of relief went through me. The bell went and he went to his locker to get his bag. I got changed and waited for him outside. I started to think of things we could do. _Yesterday we went to the beach and ate._ _Today we could... walk around the shops, hag out at his place, go to a restaurant..._


End file.
